A common problem in B2B sponsored advertising is that the long consideration phase is not necessarily conducive to the framework of pay-per-click. Because the research phase can be anywhere from 30-300 days, and the actual buying funnel is crossed with multiple stakeholder touch points (sales dialogue enter here, RFI here, RFP here, etc), it is very difficult to monetize the return from a PPC campaign. Even with cookies, you simply cannot link a sale to an origin in PPC, there are too many people involved in the purchase decision, and there is just too much interaction throughout the consideration phase.
However, Industry knows, intrinsically, that there is value in Search. In fact, it is generally accepted that the initial B2B product research is almost 89% dependent on interaction with search engines and the Internet (Marketing Sherpa). Simply put, people look for the product/solution and testimonials/references online, before they ever make initial contact or are considered a lead of any warmth whatsoever.
So besides a real branding strategy, it has always been tough to sell PPC. If anything, PPC is only viewed as a mitigation strategy while pages are optimized and rankings improve from SEO strategies. It’s a stop gap for longer SEO project timelines.
Opportunity in PPC for B2B
But I’ve long believed that there is opportunity in sponsored advertising for B2B markets, even though most B2B marketers think prospects only click on organic and only use Google (they don’t, but that is another article). In fact, new research shows that regardless of market or intent, sponsored real estate still garners the lion share of fovial fixations (it is the first place even people with research intents look). And believe it or not, it serves as a baseline comparison for click considerations and future semantic mapping. Basically, if a user sees a sponsored ad (and the majority do), they use it to compare the first organic results to – if it is more relevant and matches their intent, they make the click. The landing page is what coaches a relationship and conversion.
Where a lot of B2B advertising falls short is that the messaging doesn’t resonate with a researcher, instead, advertisers generally use sales messaging to try and drive a click. But if your average sale is in the million + range (not uncommon in B2B), prospects don’t really respond to “10% off” or “save, save, save” – they are looking for quality, ease of implementation, and a solution to their problem. This is the thinking that drove me to test Clickriver.
A new solution
“Clickriver Ads is an advertising program — currently in beta — that allows businesses to place sponsored links on Amazon.com®, next to search results and on product detail pages. Clickriver Ads presents a unique opportunity to advertise services and products that complement the selection on Amazon.com, an online marketplace with tens of millions of active customer accounts.”
The Clickriver Ads beta provides the only direct way to create, track and optimize sponsored link ad campaigns on Amazon.com. However, Clickriver Ads are not the only sponsored links on Amazon.com. They also display sponsored links from 3rd party ad networks.
The results
The results were impressive. Why? Because prospects in a research phase also look at buying books that deal with their particular pain. What do I mean? If somebody is having a supply chain problem, they research different philosophies and business paradigms; looking into “supply chain management solutions“ far before they recognize the direct need for “order management software.” And where do they look for resources? Online! Where do they look for books and collateral? Amazon!
Clickriver allowed me to target my initial prospect stage with very relevant “researcher“ type messaging. What’s more – it allowed me to place those messages in direct association with well respected business authors and industry expects; basically giving me an indirect testimonial through the periphery. The click-thru-rate was low, the number of clicks were low, but the conversion rate (soft leads) was higher than in Google or Business.com – by 30%+.
It may not be the best solution for e-retail, but there are definite legs in the B2B marketplace, but don’t take just my word for it – test it out yourself.
